1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosures herein relate generally to processes for ensuring an multi-division importer's compliance with domestic customs requirements. More specifically, the present disclosures relate to systems and methods for assessing and tracking compliance data across multiple divisions within an importer's business, and for minimizing delays caused by erroneous information reported to customs agents by individual divisions.
2. Description of Related Art
When a U.S. company imports goods from foreign sources, it may be subject to numerous U.S. Customs regulations. One such set of requirements is based upon a complex classification system promulgated by U.S. Customs, known as the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (“HTS”) code. Within this system, U.S. Customs classifies types of products using 10-digit HTS codes. These codes may be used, for example, to determine the applicable tariff rates on different types of products imported into the U.S. Importers must therefore correctly classify each imported product under the appropriate HTS code, so that the proper duty amounts may be calculated. When companies import foreign goods, each item must be assigned a classification code according to the Customs standards. The classification code may then be used to calculate the duty owed on that item.
A customs broker is an intermediary between an importer and U.S. Customs. The broker estimates the amount of duty owed on imported goods and prepares and submits paperwork and duty payment to U.S. Customs on behalf of the importer. Foreign suppliers send invoices and shipping documents with their shipment of imported goods, and these documents are generally required by customs brokers for the purpose of calculating the duty and preparing the Customs paperwork submissions. The broker then submits a report to the importer, which includes information about the Customs filings and the amount of duty paid.
Previously, different divisions within a large company would receive invoices and shipping documents directly from their foreign suppliers. Each division would independently forward its received invoices and shipping documents to a customs broker. It was difficult for the company to keep track of these documents and transactions across its multiple divisions, in part because each division had its own business requirements related to document formats.
Another problem in the prior art involved classification of unknown goods. Prior to the invention, a customs broker classified imported goods according to a “common classification” list provided by the importer (the company or one of its divisions). The importer would maintain this list, which specified one of the Customs-established classification codes for each one of a list of goods that were commonly-purchased by the company and its divisions. For every imported good the broker encountered, he would look up the classification code in the “common classification” list. When a broker encountered an imported good that did not appear on this list (for example, a part that had never before been ordered by the company, and thus never needed to be classified before), the broker would be unable to classify the part and would have to contact the company to report the problem, thus delaying the generation of documents and duty payment for submission to U.S. Customs.
Because of the difficulties described above, and other complexities involved in the importation, classification and trade compliance process, there is not currently a thorough, convenient or efficient way for a company to manage import-related data from its various divisions such that they can be centrally accessed for trade compliance monitoring and customs broker interfacing. Rather, data from each source are typically handled by a different person or within a different section of a large multi-division importer. This causes trade compliance processing within a multi-division importing company to be a disjointed and time-consuming procedure.